Two sent to the hospital after bizarre crash

Two men were sent to hospital on Tuesday following a bizarre hit-and-run crash on Camelot Street.

According to police, shortly after 1 p.m. a man in his 30s, driving an allegedly stolen blue Chevrolet panel van, struck a pedestrian on the sidewalk adjacent to the provincial court house.

He then swerved onto the courthouse lawn, veered sharply to the right and careened over a wall into the Safeway parking lot below.

The van crushed the passenger side roof of a Geo Metro parked at the back side of the lot, then came to rest on its driver’s side, taking out a fibre optic cable box on its way over.

Thunder Bay Police Sgt. John Fennell  said in terms of seriousness, the crash is up there near the top.

Fennell said the male driver was taken into custody almost immediately, as two officers happened to be across the street attending matters at the courthouse and watched the incident unfold.

The man, taken to hospital for treatment of undisclosed injuries, has been charged with theft of an automobile.

More charges are pending, Fennell said.

The victim who was allegedly struck by the van was injured, but Fennell couldn’t say how badly.

“He has been taken to Thunder Bay Regional. I’m not sure at this time the extent of his injuries.”

A witness, who did not want to give his name, said he didn’t see the pedestrian being hit, but as he looked up he saw the van strike the fibre optics box and fly through the guardrail into the parking lot about eight feet below.

“It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” the man said.

Police have cordoned off Camelot Street between Algoma and Court streets, and expect it to remain closed for about two hours.

Police, who named neither the suspect nor the victim, have marked off the suspected path the stolen vehicle took, using miniature orange traffic cones.